The Game of Life

“Ding.” Jiang Feng was cooking a meal when the game unexpectedly sprang back to life.

Out of a defiant mentality that no matter whether he watched the update or not, the speed of the update wouldn’t accelerate, Jiang Feng hadn’t checked the progress on the properties panel for almost ten days.

How far had the update got last time he checked?

Jiang Feng, holding his spatula in his right hand, froze mid-motion, lost in thought.

Last time he checked, it seemed like the update was at 19%, which suggested that the game had been updating pretty fast this time. With that thought, Jiang Feng reached out his left hand like a crazy person and opened the properties panel.

Current game update progress: 77.89%

The progress bar was more than half complete, and on top of it was an intact bun wielding a spatula and energetically hopping up and down. It was clear that the game’s art designer deserved a raise—the art style was far better than before.

“Son, son!” Jiang Jiankang saw Jiang Feng zoning out even while stir-frying and thought he was preoccupied with worrying about the pork knuckle and chopped chili fish head cooked by the two old men, compulsively speaking like a good father, “Are you hungry? Leave the rest of the cooking to Dad, go have you meal first!”

“Ah? No, I’m not, I…” Jiang Feng looked down and hastily stirred the vegetables in the wok a few times.

“Still saying no? How could Dad not know what you’re thinking? I know it’s been a while since your grandpa and granduncle cooked, it’s normal for you to miss it. It’s fine, go have you meal, Dad can handle this alone.” Jiang Jiankang promised, patting his chest.

“Dad, I’m really not hungry,” Jiang Feng insisted, trying to explain with the progress bar in his mind, while the hopping bun sometimes blocked Jiang Jiankang’s chin and sometimes his eyes, making Jiang Feng dizzy looking at his own father’s face.

Eventually, Jiang Feng couldn’t withstand the avalanche of fatherly love that came from Jiang Jiankang and was sent off to eat.

Just as he left the back kitchen, Jiang Feng saw Ji Xue and Ji Xia’s retreating figures going out the door, and looking up, Wu Minqi was coming down from the second floor.

Jiang Feng approached her and asked, “Qiqi, what’s going on with them?”

“It seems like there’s a bit of a conflict between the sisters, so I asked Xue to go back and have a good talk with her sister. They haven’t really communicated much in a while, and they looked like strangers when I went up there,” Wu Minqi said helplessly, “Fengfeng, are you hungry? Go on up, De and Cheng are still eating, and it seems they’ve saved some pork knuckle for you.”

Jiang Feng was startled, then touched, not expecting De and Cheng to remember to save him some pork knuckle. In the Jiang family’s eating philosophy, it had always been “I, Jiang Zaidi/Jiang Shoucheng/Jiang Ran/Jiang Feng know nothing of youthful folly, only the victor king” stance—what you get in your bowl and what you eat is what matters.

Give way?

Impossible!

With a hint of warmth in his heart, Jiang Feng trotted upstairs and pushed open the door of the private room.

The smokeless battle between Jiang Zaidi and Jiang Shoucheng was nearing its end, both were close to twelve parts full, now drinking porridge to fill the gaps in their stomach and esophagus.

“Little bro, you’re here!” Seeing Jiang Feng, Jiang Shoucheng greeted him warmly, burping with satisfaction, “De and I specially saved you some pork knuckle.”

Jiang Feng looked at the table and indeed, there was some, a clean bone with some sauce and a piece of skin on the meat, shiny and lying on the plate.

That tiny piece of meat encapsulated all the love Jiang Zaidi and Jiang Shoucheng had for their little brother.

“Thanks, bro!” Jiang Feng was deeply moved.

If only Cheng could have been this considerate during the New Year, Jiang Feng wouldn’t have missed out on Sir’s crispy apples.

In fact, there wasn’t much food left on the table. The reason Jiang Zaidi and Jiang Shoucheng had hung around was to wait for Jiang Feng to finish eating so they could take care of the remaining food.

“Little bro, how’s your learning about cooking sea cucumber dishes going?” Jiang Zaidi asked tentatively, leisurely sipping his porridge.

Jiang Shoucheng mimicked Jiang Zaidi’s actions, holding up his bowl to cover part of his face, to avoid giving away his intentions with his expression.

“It’s going well, grandpa mainly wants me to get familiar with sea cucumber as an ingredient, but what I’m mainly learning is braised sea cucumber with green onions. There are actually a lot of ways to cook sea cucumber, Granduncle Weiming said those particularly difficult dishes will need to be studied and practiced slowly,” replied Jiang Feng.

Jiang Zaidi finished the porridge in his bowl, and his eyes restlessly settled on the remaining chrysanthemum fish on the plate. He convinced himself that his little brother didn’t like fish. Yes, that’s it, the little brother doesn’t like fish, and his hand honestly reached out with the chopsticks.

Jiang Shoucheng slapped Jiang Zaidi’s chopsticks away with a “snap,” glared at him, and then turned to Jiang Feng with a smile.

“I’ve also heard recently… little bro, aren’t you learning to make noodles?” Jiang Shoucheng showed off his shiny teeth.

Jiang Feng looked up, swallowing his fried rice, “Uncle told you? Who else did Uncle talk to? Did Uncle talk to Grandpa? What did he tell Grandpa?”

“De told me! I didn’t say anything!” Jiang Shoucheng passed the blame to Jiang Zaidi.

“My mom told me!” Jiang Zaidi shifted the blame to his aunt.

Jiang Feng sighed with relief, “You two mustn’t tell Grandpa, not a single word!”

The brothers nodded in unison, showing an expression that said ‘we get it, don’t worry, our lips are sealed.’

“Little brother, honestly, how has Cheng treated you over the years?” Jiang Shoucheng’s expression turned serious all of a sudden.

Jiang Feng hesitated a bit: “Not bad.”

“Then you should help him out with something he needs now, right?”

“Not necessar… no… not necessarily.”

“It’s just a small favor, little brother; you don’t have to be scared. When has Cheng ever harmed you?” Jiang Shoucheng comforted, “It’s just a tiny, insignificant favor, but you’re the only one in our family who can help me out!”

Jiang Feng: ʅ(･´‸･｀)ʃ

“If you want something, Cheng, just say it.”

“Little brother, teach me how to pull noodles!”

“Huh?!”

A few minutes later, after Jiang Shoucheng’s not-so-honest recounting and Jiang Zaidi’s exaggerations, Jiang Feng finally understood the whole story.

In short, Jiang Shoucheng had found spring again.

These days, under the strict control of his second aunt’s fitness diet, Jiang Shoucheng felt as if life had lost its luster, becoming dull and flavorless. He grew increasingly haggard and thinner, and at the same time, he also began to realize that the daughter of the owner who delivered his regularly ordered braised pork takeaway was actually quite cute.

At first, Jiang Shoucheng thought he couldn’t take his eyes off the delivery girl just because he was deeply attracted to the takeaway she held. It wasn’t until he forced Sun and Xu to order braised pork from this place every day that he realized even when this nameless girl was holding the fragrant braised pork, his eyes stayed on her face rather than the dish she carried. That’s when Jiang Shoucheng confirmed that it was the girl he liked, not the meat.

Now, after inquiring around, Jiang Shoucheng had gleaned all he could about the girl.

Her name was Yang Rui, an only child, majored in Classical Chinese Literature in college, and after graduating, went back to help in her parents’ shop while also working as a freelance writer. Due to being cooped up in the shop for long periods, her daily routine became delivering takeaways every half-hour, turning her into a slightly tanned, slightly chubby young woman.

Of course, all this information wasn’t the main point. Jiang Shoucheng also found out that the girl loved noodles.

Loved thin noodles.

“Little brother, next month! There’s a gathering for emergency next month, and I’ve already suggested to Director Zhong that we should have the meal at that shop, tasty and cheap. At that time, I’ll show off my impressive noodle-pulling skills, pull noodles right in front of Yang Rui; I’ll definitely become the brightest star among the crowd!” Jiang Shoucheng dreamed big.

Jiang Feng indicated that even if you don’t pull noodles, just by standing among the emergency department doctors, you’re already the brightest star.

“Cheng, why don’t you just go learn from Uncle?” Jiang Feng asked.

“If I went straight to Uncle, my mom would find out. If my mom finds out, that’s the end of the world. Right now, she’s dying to tie some other girl up and drag her home to marry me.” Jiang Shoucheng suggested you can never underestimate how scary a mom can be when pushing for marriage.

Jiang Feng: …

Jiang Feng flashed Jiang Shoucheng a mischievous smile.

“Cheng, say ‘Master’ and let me hear.”

“Thump.” The table made a dull sound.

Jiang Feng’s legs trembled, almost deciding to leave first. He felt he had indeed become too arrogant, forgetting the feeling of being teamed up on by Cheng and De when he was younger.

Jiang Feng opened his mouth to apologize, but before he could say anything, Jiang Shoucheng sprang up.

“Master, I’m counting on you!”

Jiang Feng & Jiang Zaidi: ???

The two brothers stood there stunned.

After a while, Jiang Feng pondered in his heart:

Indeed, faced with both braised pork and the girl, Cheng’s first instinct was to look at the girl.

True love indeed!

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